On a chilly bank holiday Monday (the first of 2022), it was heartening to see so many eager local Goodgym volunteers eager to get out and engaging after the festive period! Area Activator Simon met up with Steve, John and first timer Mike (welcome!) at the Elizabeth House Food Hub for a catch-up, a brief warm up and a 1.5 mile run across the borough (past the Emirates and up Mackenzie Road). As we ran past fallen Christmas trees and the last of the festive lights, we chatted about our holidays and plans on our way to Market Road Gardens.

Sally, Eilidh and Emily met our running team at the gates to the Heyward Adventure Playground, and our crew gathered up at the newly constructed tool shed at the far side of the park (in October, 4 Goodgymmers helped with laying down the cement foundations for this new shed- it's wonderful to see this come together!). We picked up loads of brushes, rakes, litter pickers and green bags, and collected as much green debris as possible from the entrance pathways. As we picked up the organic matter, we added the leaves and branches to the hugelgarden bed- a large compost patch covered by a tarpaulin to aid the production of mulch and fertilizer. Steve helped with the composting process by jumping up and down on the tarpaulin to allow us to fit as much green waste into the bed as possible.

Over the course of 45 minutes, we covered a huge amount of maintenance work in a short amount of time. Octopus Community Network will be thrilled with the progress we made!

Next week, we will start our group run at Elizabeth House Food Hub again, but plan to head to Thornhill Square Gardens!

We are also planning on finishing our group run with a social trip to Pho House by Highbury and Islington station for some hot soup and noodles (depending on restrictions).

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Weekend Community Missions

Thornhill Square Gardens volunteer morning

On Saturday 8th January, we have been invited to join the residents of Thornhill Square Gardens with their monthly open volunteer gardening morning. Organisers from the Friends of Thornhill Square will be on hand to offer green fingered tasks for anyone who is willing to help out!

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/thornhill-square-gardens-open-volunteer-morning

Penn Road Gardens volunteer day

Penn Road Gardens (off Holloway Road) have scheduled their first open gardening day of the year this Sunday (9th January). We thoroughly enjoyed our visit here last year, and the team have plenty of lovely composting and garden maintenance tasks available this weekend. Sign up here to get involved!

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/penn-road-gardens-2022-fix-up